Faith
by jonwatsn
Summary: Oh hey guys look here's another one of these cliché fan fictions that just add a girl into the story yay moving on. But hold up g. This girl is Gordie's cousin from New Castle, England. She basically comes in after her parents die and then gets kicked out by Gordie's parents. Which really sucks for her because now she's homeless tear tear. If you want to read, please do. Thanks!
1. Chapter 1

_1_

Chris is dead now.

It happened a while ago. I guess I should be over it by now. It's been so long. I've still got Gordie but let's face it – he's my cousin. I can't have a romantic relationship with him. I mean, he's my cousin.

When Chris died it was like I had been punched in the stomach. All the air was sucked out of my body. I completely forgot how to breathe. I just stood there outside the shop, clutching my belly, half a breath caught in my throat.

You know that feeling you get, that taughtness in your stomach, when you need to cry but there are too many people around? That desperate sob that's stuck in your throat, fighting to get out? That's what I felt. But it wasn't because I didn't want to cry. It was because I couldn't. I was so shocked and overwhelmed that I had been completely winded.

I miss him. I miss him with all my heart. I miss him when I lie awake and look at the ceiling, wondering when I'll finally fall asleep. I miss him when I wake up and look out of my window at the CastleRiver. I miss him when the day begins to end on a hot summer night.

I think that's when I miss him the most. When the light diminishes into nothingness and the sky goes a bruised purple.

Because that's when it all happened. That's when I met him. That's when my life ended and then started again, better than it had before.

That's when I set off on a trip that changed us all forever.


	2. Chapter 2

_2_

I remember sitting up in the tree house overlooking the vacant lot, high up in an elm tree. I had scrambled up the ladder and shoved the trapdoor open with my shoulder. I heaved myself up onto the uneven wooden floor and pulled it shut again, then lay on the planks.

I blinked hard and sniffed. Then I opened my eyes and looked around.

There were ash trays and comic books and magazines and shelves and playing cards everywhere. In the air was the distinct, lingering smell of cigarettes. I crinkled my nose at the scent, which mixed softly with body odour.

I thought to myself _I bet Gordie loves it up here. Well and truly loves it so much that he could live here._ The thought humoured me, as it was such a dump, and I laughed.

I sifted through the magazines, disgusted by what their content was. When I finally got to the bottom of a cardboard box, I found a thick novel, the pages browned and soft with age. The corners had been worn down and rounder at the corners. It had been read thousands of times and then discarded, deemed unreadable, and shoved in a box. A box then given to Gordie and his mates.

I flipped to the front of it and lay down on the single mattress in the corner of the room. Lying on my side, I propped myself up on one elbow and began to read.

I could see why it was down in the bottom of that box. The quality of the writing was appalling. But I ploughed through it, as there was nothing much else I could do.

After about half an hour, I heard voices down below me. I dismissed it, knowing that it was just Gordie. I could hear his quiet, timid voice, his laugh, his sigh. I then heard bare, hot hands slapping on the wooden rails of the ladder. Then another set, and then another. They voices got louder, but they were muffled by the floor and my thoughts and the awfully written book in my hands.

Then the trap door opened and three boys slowly stepped in. The first two stopped talking immediately and stood next to each other, staring at me. The third was still talking to them about some show on the telly. He looked at them and then looked at me and then stopped.

I looked up to them. I recognised Gordie immediately. I knew who Teddy was, but only because Gordie had told me about the glasses and his bad ear. The other, standing on the left, I didn't have even a kindling of a thought about.

I smiled to Gordie. "Hi love."

Teddy and the other lad looked to Gordie in disbelief. He glanced at them and then turned to me again. "Hi. What are you dong here?" his voice wavered, as if he was scared about what his friends would think.

I closed the book in my hands that I had no intention of reading any longer. "I need to talk to yeh about that."

He waited, then realised I meant in private. "Oh. Hey, can you guys give us a second?" he said, returning to his friends. They gave him a puzzled look, then sat in the other corner and got out some cards. Gordie walked over to me and sat on the edge of the bed.

"What's happened? Where are your folks?"

"England," I said simply. I had just come from there. Left them behind. They didn't even get a funeral. Or a gravestone. Or not as far as I was concerned.

"Why? What? Okay, start form the start."

I then told him in a hushed tone how my parents had been killed in a car crash. How my father, being Gordie's uncle, had given the custody to Gordie's dad. How I had been shipped off immediately to America to live with my aunt and uncle. How when I finally arrived at their house, my aunt threw a fit and told my to leave. How I had asked where Gordie was and how she had told me here.

He looked at me, his face shocked and upset and confused and blank. "Why did she throw you out?"

I shrugged. "I have no idea. My best bet is that she and me mum had a falling out and she doesn't want anythin' to do with me," I let out a sigh. "So now I don't know what I should do."

We sat there, looking at each other, processing what had happened to me. Then the lad I didn't know piped up.

"Gordie, are you gonna play?"

Gordie looked over to him. "Yeah sure Chris. Just wait a bit."

Then the one with the thick, floppy blond hair and thick glasses looked over to us. "Hurry up, we ain't got all day. Wrap up your girly gossip and get your ass over here."

I raised my eyebrows at Gordie, who shook his head and shrugged. "No one really knows," he raised himself up and went over to them. He sat on a long makeshift couch next to the small card table they had placed over the trap door.

I stood up and went over to them, slipping past Teddy and sitting next to Gordie. Teddy dealt the cards and Gordie picked his hand up.

His eyes shifted to me sideways and he saw that I was looking at him. He turned his head to fully look me in the face. "What?"

"Well you know I've never been to America before, right?" he nodded a reply. "So, I've never _met _anyone here. Except for you and yeh family of course. So I have no idea who these people are."

He laughed slightly at himself. "Right. Well, Khione, this is Teddy and Chris. Chris, Teddy, this is my cousin Khione."

Teddy nodded at me and mumbled some greeting, but went straight back to his cards. Chris leant over the table and shook my hand, smiling warmly at me.

"Great to meet you. Gordie's told me about you a couple of times, y'know," he said as he sat down. He started sorting through his cards, but carried on talking. "Thought you seemed like a nice girl," he shoved his cards into one clump and smiled up at me again.

I gave a strange sort of shy titter. "Well, if I'm right, you're that Chris Chambers. And we've heard a lot about yeh," and I shot a smile right back at him.

He laughed. A strong, steady laugh. "Really? What kind of things?"

I shrugged evasively. "Bit of this, bit of that. Nothin' and everythin'."

He laughed again and so did I.

I watched them play cards for a while, and laughed at their unfortunate hands. I never really understood poker, but I got it when someone was fucked and someone was fine.

After a while, I began really looking at who I was with. These two new people that had suddenly come into my life. Teddy, with that floppy hair I'd seen in a photo one time. The swollen up lump of an ear that had been burned by his father on a stove. His glasses that framed his dark brown eyes. His rusty nail laugh that made me laugh even harder. The puzzled look he gave us when we laughed at something he had said that made no sense.

Then Chris. The first time I got a really good look at Chris Chambers. His tanned complexion, his short blondish brown hair, his bright smile, sweet face, strong voice. I took everything in and soaked it up like a sponge. I spent far more time studying his face than I did looking at anything else. Something about him just fascinated me.

I had been told plenty of shit about Chris Chambers, kid brother to Eyeball Chambers. I had heard that the Chamberses were a bunch of pretty rough people. That their old man beat them black and blue and put them in hospital over night. That Chris had stolen the milk money one time and got suspended. That Eyeball had dropped out of school when he was fifteen. That Chris smoked already and didn't do a thing towards his school work.

I had this image of some crazy kid that had rotted his brain to shit. But he wasn't like that. His eyes were too soft to be that person.

I know that when Gordie reads this, he'll laugh at that part. He'll laugh his fucking head off and call me a fucking sentimental next time he sees me after reading that. So what? He's got his writing style, I've got mine. Fuck him.

But it was true. You know, they say the eyes are the window to the soul or some gooey shit like that and yeah I guess I hate that coz it's so goddamn cliché. But no cliché comes from thin air. It always has a bit of truth behind it somewhere.

I couldn't look into his light green eyes and see that he had all of this shit going on and I couldn't tell what he had for dinner yesterday. But even when he was scowling and Teddy, his eyes were smiling. Not twinkling. No. If I say that I'll never hear the end of it from Gordie. But they definitely had some sort of shine to it. Glisten. That's as far as I'll go.

They played a full three games before we heard that irregular knock on the other side of the trap door. Three full games before they let Vern in, and he made some incredibly sexist comment about how he couldn't tell me what he'd heard because I was a girl and it wasn't girly stuff.

I laughed. "What? I can't hear this thing what you're pissin' and moanin' about? You fucking sexist little cu-"

"Vern," Gordie said, looking at me dangerously to stop. "She's okay. Just tell us."

"Can you guys camp out tonight? I mean, if you tell your folks we're gonna tent out in my backfield?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Chris said, still playing on with the cards. "But my dad's on a real mean streak. Drinking, y'know."

"You _got _to man. Sincerely. You won't _believe _this. Can you Gordie?"

"Probably," he replied, sounding flat.

"So come out with it, Vern-O. What's happened?" Teddy interjected.

"I knock," Chris said out of the blue. It was enough to tear Teddy's attention away from Vern's enthusiasm and back to the game.

"What? You ain't got no pat hand. You didn't deal yourself no pat hand," he screeched.

Chris leant forward and smirked at him. "Make your draw, shitheap," then he looked over to Gordie and I and we started laughing.

Somehow, over the laughter, we heard Vern's quiet, hesitant voice say; "You guys wanna go see a dead body?"


	3. Chapter 3

_3_

That was it. Those were the eight words that changed the whole atmosphere, the whole point, my whole life, for god's sake.

We all shut up after that. Our heads snapped over to look at Vern. The others looked intrigued, amazed, like they'd just solved the mystery of who had taken the last chocolate biscuit from the tin.

I was completely in shock. I thought he was pulling one over on us. I honestly could not fathom that four twelve year old boys would want to go and find a dead body.

Oh, how wrong. How naively wrong I was.

Vern explained to us how he had overheard his brother Billy and Billy's friend Charlie talking about it when he was digging for his pennies. I didn't understand that, so it had to be explained, but I'm sure you've heard Gordie's side of the story so I won't explain it again.

Then they explained to me about how some kid called Ray Brower had gone missing from a town about forty miles east of Castle Rock, and how he was our age, and how they'd been following the story because of that. And how now they were going to go off to the Back Harlow Road and look for this dead body, so they could be famous.

"You wanna come, Khione?" Gordie asked me, and Vern's shoulders slumped down.

"Oh, no, Gordie! Come on, man, she's a girl. We can't take her she'll be moaning the whole time about ruining her shoes!" he protested and I felt a flicker of anger.

"If you say one more sexist thing about me, I am honestly going to punch you in the face," I said harshly to him. He looked at me, as if shocked I could even speak or think on that level, then realised my threat and reeled back.

"Sorry, sorry, you can come if you want!"

"Thank you, I'd be delighted," I smiled at him.

"Okay. So where's your stuff?" Gordie said, and I turned to him.

"Oh, shit, I left it at your place," I leant back on the wall, kicking myself up the backside for my stupidity,

"Well then, just come back and get it."

"You know I can't do that. Yeh mum'll 'ave another go at me."

"Oh, right. Great welcome to the country, wasn't it?" he said, laughing and elbowing me softly.

I laughed as well. "Oh, definitely. Couldn't have asked for a better one. Will you get me stuff for me please? I'll love you forever," I said, resting my head on his shoulder.

He laughed. "Sure thing."

And he did. Then that afternoon we set off on the tracks. All five of us lined up across the tracks, walking side by side.

After about half an hour, they'd taken their shirts off and tied them around their waists. The heat was ridiculous. No shit. I had an urge to take mine off as well but I had nothing underneath but a bra, and I wasn't sure that was going to go down well.

Somewhere along the way they started singing some old American song that I didn't recognise so I hung back a little and just watched them and listened.

Chris couldn't sing for much longer and started laughing. He looked over his shoulder at me, smiling. I smiled back at him and he slowed down to join me.

"Hey, you alright?" he asked, still sort of half-laughing.

"Yeh, this is a great time," I breathed. The hot afternoon air was stifling and almost unbearable. Chris' toned body was slightly shiny in the sun with his perspiration. "Bit warm, but still. I'm happy."

"Good. Wouldn't want any discomfort, would we?"

Up ahead, Gordie and Vern had stopped singing, but Teddy carried on. His voice had a strange, wavering quality to it. It sounded really nice and I enjoyed the view that was accompanied by his voice.

Suddenly, Vern piped up.

"Hey, I'm kinda hungry. Who's got the food?"

Teddy stopped singing abruptly and we all came to a stop. Keeping one hand on his rolled up mat, Teddy lifted the other. "Aw, shit. Did anyone even bring anything?"

They all shook their heads and Teddy turned to me. "Well what about you? You're the one who's supposed to be in the kitchen all her life!"

"Uhm excuse me, I've only been here a day, I don't even have a _house_!" I yelled back at him. "Don't tell me _you _didn't bring anything either."

"Well hell, this wasn't my idea, it was Vern's," he then turned on Vern. "Why didn't you bring anything?"

Vern's mouth dropped in dismay. "What am I supposed to do, think of everything? I brought the comb," he added, trailing off at the end.

"Oh great!" Teddy was still going. "A comb. What do you even need a comb for? You don't even have any hair!"

"I brought it for you!" Vern picked up some courage, advancing towards Teddy in defence. But before anything could happen, Chris stepped between them.

"Come on, calm down," he didn't even need to raise his voice, they just stopped. "We'll see how much money we have."

We all sat down in a circle on the rails and they handed their money to Gordie.

Vern reluctantly slapped his money down on to Gordie's palm. Gordie looked at him sceptically.

"Seven cents, Vern?"

He shrugged dismissively. "I haven't found my pennies."

Gordie sighed then faced me, his palm held out.

My mind went blank. _Oh shit._ I leant to the side slightly so my right pocket was easier to get to. I plunged my hand in and started looking. "Wait, I think I have something…" my finger tip made contact with a round, warm piece of metal and I smiled at Gordie. "Aha! Won't be much use, but here you go."

I placed it delicately in the middle of his hand and they all peered at it. Gordie looked up at me, puzzled.

"What is that?"

"It's a pound. That's our money in England," I said, slightly embarrassed.

"What the fuck are we supposed to do with a _pound_?" Chris asked. But he wasn't annoyed. More, humoured by the situation.

"I don't know. I told you it wasn't going to help. And like I said before, I don't even have a house. You can't expect me to provide on such short notice."

Chris laughed again and then looked past me. "Train, come on guys."

We all stood up and I brushed the seat of my tight, pale blue jeans. We stepped off the tracks and down the embankment. All except for Teddy,

Once we got to the bottom, we looked up to see him throw his mat to the side.

"Teddy, you're crazy. Get down here," Chris said, looking from Teddy to the oncoming train.

"No, uh-uh," he just kept looking at the train. "I'm gonna dodge it."

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	4. Chapter 4

_4_

My mouth dropped open before I could even think to keep it closed. He was going to dodge it? When Gordie told me he was crazy, I didn't think it was like _that._ The lad was out of his mind. How the hall was he supposed to dodge it with his eyesight.

Chris kept yelling at him to get down, get off the tracks, he was crazy. But Teddy wouldn't listen. In fact, he stood his ground and _braced _himself for the train. As if he could stay there and push the train back to a halt. Which was crazy and ridiculous.

Finally, Chris threw his mat on the ground and ran back up the embankment. Upon joining Teddy, he wrapped his arms around Teddy's shoulder sand attempted to pull him off the tracks. There was a bit of resistance, and I could feel my heart speeding up in my chest as the train got nearer and nearer.

Finally, Chris managed to pull Teddy down the other side. There was a few seconds delay and then the train passed right where they were standing.

Gordie, Vern and I stood there, dumbfounded by what we had just seen. As soon as the train had gone we sprinted up and over to where Teddy and Chris were now engaging in a fight.

Vern and Gordie immediately went into action, Gordie holding Chris back and Vern at Teddy's side.

Teddy was going off at Chris for ruining it. I just stood there awkwardly, watching their conversation like a tennis match. It was ridiculous how upset Teddy was, to be perfectly honest with you.

After a while, Teddy just gave Chris a dirty look. "I could've dodged it," and he just walked away sulkily, as if that was it, subject closed. But Chris went back after it.

"You can dodge it on the way back, man," he held out his hand to Teddy, palm facing upwards. "Skin it."

I watched as they did something I had never seen before. Probably because I was from England and we didn't do shit like that. Teddy placed his hand palm down on Chris' and they dragged their arms towards themselves. Then they flipped and did the same.

Chris slapped Teddy on his arm and then we got moving again. It was amazing how they just moved on like that. How it just slid, like their hands.

I guess I understand it a little better now, how guys can do that. But I still don't get it fully and completely, even now in my thirties with a daughter and a proper job.


	5. Chapter 5

**Before you read any further, I thought I'd just let you know something.**  
**My friend and I were talking, and she says that it's weird how all of my characters are based on me, and how I should try to make my own character. And so I have changed the name of this protagonist to Khione, (pronounce key-oh-knee).**  
**Thought I'd let you know to prevent any confusion:) thanks for reading guys xoxo**

_4_

I hung back a little and Chris joined me again. He called up to the others that they would stop at the Castle Rock Dump, as there was a well there with good drinking water, and the Florida Market was just up the road.

They all nodded to him and then faced away from us and we all carried on in silence.

Chris turned to me, one hand on the canteen knocking at his side, the other on his rolled up mat. "So, Khione. How are you liking Castle Rock so far?"

I smiled and looked down at my bright red Keds. My fringe fell in may face and I brushed it away, looking up to meet his eyes.

"Well, I've only been here for a matter of hours, but it's really nice so far," I bumped him with my shoulder, causing him to cross his right leg behind his left to regain his balance. "The people I've met so far a pretty cool, too."

He smiled and bumped me back. "Oh really?"

"Yeah. Oh, except for this Chambers kid. He's a bit of a dick," I leant in so my mouth was next to his ear. "But don't tell him I said that."

"I promise," he said, laughing.

We continued talking all the way to the dump. Mainly about the difference between New Castle and Castle Rock.

When we came to the chain link fence, I read one of the signs. After reading the first line painted boldly on the wood, I turned to Gordie.

"'No tresspassin'? So we're just gonna jump the fence and hope no one sees us?"

I started as Teddy threw his mat over the fence, stepping back and yelling; _"Stand back men!" _

They all hooked their fingers into the gaps in the chain and began to clamber clumsily up the fence.

I shrugged and followed after them. Over taking them was easy, as I had to climb something similar back in England. At the top, I planted my hands firmly on the rail and flipped my legs over in a side volt. The momentum carried me through and I landed on the ground with a thud in a crouch.

I stood and looked back up at the fence, brushing my hands off on each other. They were only just getting to the top and were staring at me.

Chris was the first to get down, landing just in front of me. "How the hell did you do that?"

"I did gymnastics back in England, and the training was intense," I raised my hand and pointed to the fence. "We had to do stuff like that all the time."

He nodded. "You do gymnastics?"

I smiled widely at him. "God yeah! Watch," I faced in the direction that Vern and Teddy were now running and raised my hands above my head, like a diver about to execute.

In one, swift movement, I launched myself into a series of cartwheels, round-offs, and backward walk-overs. I ended with a sideways body-roll in mid air, landing next to Teddy with my feet steadily together.

I looked back down the dump. Chris stood with Gordie, his hands on his hips. He threw his head back and laughed, though I couldn't hear him. He brought his head back and smiled, shaking his head.

Beside me, Teddy took off again. _"Take no prisoners!" _he started using his mat as a gun and ran off around a corner, behind another pile of discarded shit.

Gordie said something to Chris and Chris nodded. They started talking, and seeing as I couldn't hear them, I turned and ran off after Teddy.

I saw that he and Vern had taken shelter under some old corrugated iron, and were sitting there talking.

I sat and joined them. As I got myself comfortable, Gordie and Chris ran around the corner, seeming to have a race.

They sped past us, and Chris won, making that collective-screaming sound. I laughed and joined in, clapping and whooping.

Chris slung his arm around Gordie's shoulders and then walked back over to us, sitting down.

We were all sat in a crescent. I had Gordie and Chris to my left, then Teddy and Vern to my right.

Teddy and Vern went off to fill the canteens and came back with a rusty old tin. They passed back the canteens and placed the tin about a metre and a half in front of me.

Each boy then took turns trying to spit water into the tin. There was much joking and Gordie was surprisingly good at it.

After dribbling miserably down his chin, Chris spluttered and wiped it away with the back of his hand. He held his canteen out to me. "Here, have a go."

I stared down at it, then pushed it back to him. "Oh, no. Uh-uh. I am _not _doin' that."  
but he took my hand and wrapped it around the barrel. "Go on, live a little."

I looked to the others and saw they were watching me expectantly.

I lifted the canteen to my mouth, but hesitated. "You mind if I lip it?"

Chris shook his head and I pressed the opening to my lips. I took a mouthful, savouring the crystal-like water.

Lowering the canteen, I fixed my sight on the tin and prepared to spit.

But at the last second, I turned my head to the left and sent the water in one, neat jet, right onto the side of Chris' neck.

He reeled back and started wiping at it with his hand, and the other lads erupted into laughter.

He smiled at me. "Okay, come here, you're not getting away with that," he said, then reached out to me.

"Yeh, sure," I said, rising to my feet. I bent over and said the last part of the sentence before sprinting off away from him. "If you can catch me, that is."

I laughed, the soles of my Keds grinding on the grit mixed with the dusty ground. I could hear him behind me, gaining quickly.

I looked over my shoulder and saw his face, smiling broadly, just a couple of metres behind me. He lifted his arm and tried to grab onto my skin-tight white shirt, his finger tips just brushing the fabric.

But again, at the last second, I spun around to the side like a matador and he went flying past me, stumbling to regain his balance. I stood, feet shoulder width apart, hands on hips. He imitated me, still smiling. I slouched my shoulders down, bringing my elbows together slightly, going into a sudden fit of giggles.

It was just enough of a gap for him to tackle me to the ground. We rolled along for a bit, competing for who would come out on top. After about a minute, I gave up and let him pin my arms above me head. He sat on my stomach, and I looked up into his eyes. Those beautiful, pale green eyes.

His chest was rising and falling rapidly as he tried to catch his breath. He smiled, then laughed in a way that it was just him breathing out in a little huff. "Got yah."

I sighed, but I was smiling as well. Since he was on my stomach, I had to breathe through my chest, which also caused my _breasts_ to move quite a bit. I wasn't comfortable with it, and the position was too close to home, so I hit him playfully on his upper arm. "Comeon, you jerkoff, get up."

He rose, then held his hand out for me as I propped myself up on my elbows. I took hold of his hand and he helped my up.

We made our way slowly back to the others, knowing there was no hurry. I took a hop-skip step and did another round off, this time on one hand just for kicks.

When I came up again, he was by my side, smiling and shaking his head again. "I don't get how you can do that."

I smiled shyly again. "Thanks. Years of trainin' and upper body strength are well important, though," I looked at his build. "You could do it with a bit of practice."

He chuckled slightly under his breath. "Of course I couldn't. You needa be flexible for that. Like you, but sure as hell not me."

"Of course you could. You'd just need practice, like I said."

We rounded the corner and joined the others again, sitting down back in our places.

"So who won?" Teddy said, looking over to us. "Bet it was Chris," he said, grinning madly.

I looked to Chris, and he winked at me. "Khione. She's stronger than she looks."

Teddy's mouth fell open in an O shape. "What?"

I laughed, then lifted my arm and flexed my muscles. "Gymnastics really do make yeh ever so strong. How d'yeh think we hold ourselves up for so long?"

Teddy just shook his head and turned the conversation to other, "more important" things.

"You guys been watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse?"

They all chimed a disconnected confirmation.

"I think Annette's tits're gettin' bigger."

They did the same chime of agreement, then Gordie added; "Yeah, I've noticed the _A _and the _E _are starting to bend around the sides."

They all laughed. I knew the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show. I knew Annette.

"Hey, we 'ave that in England," they all turned to me, probably expecting a lecture about talking down on girls. "Yeah, Annette, she's the dark haired one, right?" they all nodded slowly. I thought about it, tried to picture her in my mind. "Her boobs aren't _that _big."

There was a slight silence, as if it wasn't the response they had expected. Which it wasn't, I suppose.

"Sure they are," Vern put in. "They're bigger than most girl's."

I shrugged dismissively. "They're not bigger than mine. And I'm a bit younger than her I think. I don't know, maybe we're the same. But her boobs are definitely no bigger than mine."

I realised then that in saying that, I was practically inviting them to look at my bosom. Looking back on it now, I'm quite surprised attention hadn't already been drawn to it. I stopped growing around the same time as I moved to America, and with my height stopped my boobs. I've always been an early developer, and so even though I was still at the tender age of 12, they were already an E cup.

As I came to this realisation, I noticed that their eyes were now travelling to my chest. Usually, I would have crossed my arms over myself and covered them up. But not that time. This was around the time that I overcame my insecurities and decided I couldn't care less if they thought they were too big or too small. So I looked down at my own boobs and moved my arms out of the way.

"See?" I said, placing a hand firmly on each one. "They're huge."

Chris was the first to break eye contact with my breasts. He started laughing, probably just to break the ice I had just formed.

But Teddy and Vern just went on staring at them, and as did I. Gordie of course wouldn't ever stare at my boobs in a million years. And upon writing this, I'm most likely making him and my daughter and Gordie's kids who are practically my nieces and nephews and my grandchildren cringe. But quite frankly, I couldn't care less. As I said, that was the time when I stopped caring.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys. So sorry I couldn't post yesterday. I have drama on Wednesdays, and then I stay over at my friend's place, so I can't do anything.  
Hope you enjoy this chapter. I worked really hard on it, to try and make up for the lack of posting last night:) thanks again for reading xoxo**

_6_

After another while of joking around, and Teddy glancing briefly yet constantly at my chest, we decided that it was time to get going again.

There was some debate as to who was gonna get the food, so Chris, ever the problem solver, suggested us to flip for it.

Gordie took out the coins and passed them around. "And Khione can have the useless pound."

I laughed. "Thanks Gordie luv. Appreciate it."

Five coins glittered up in the sun. Five hands snatched them from the air. Five flat smacks on four grimy wrists and an abnormally pale one.* We uncovered and came up with four tails.

"Oh Jesus, man. That's a goocher," Vern said worriedly, looking down at his coin.

The others moaned and my face just came up blank.

"Vern-O," Teddy sounded completely exasperated. "No body believes all that crap about moons and goochers. It's baby stuff. Now come on, flip again."

"What's a goocher?" I thought at that moment that I really needed to catch up with my American slang terms.

"It's when you flip coins, and you all get tails, and it's back luck," Vern said, genuinely scared.

I laughed, then sort of regretted it, as his face fell ever so slightly. "Sorry, but really? You find that a major concern? Come off it."

"No man, a goocher, that's really bad," he turned to the rest of the lot. "You remember when Clint Bracken and those guys got wiped out on Sirois Hill in Durham?" they all nodded and he turned back to me. "Billy tole me they was flippin' for beers and came up with a goocher just before they got in the car and WHAM! They all got totalled! I don't like this," he shook his head and looked down. "Sincerely."

"Come on, guys, lets hurry it up," Chris said, placing his coin back on his bent thumb, ready to flip.

We all slapped our hands down on our wrists but Vern. We all looked to him and protested. He reluctantly flipped his coin and we unveiled ours.

The royal arms of England shone up at me. The tail for each of the others shone up at them, but the head of Thomas Jefferson glinted up at Gordie.

Teddy erupted in his rusty nail laugh.

_"Gordie's out!" _He screeched. _"Ole Gordie just screwed the pooch!"_

Gordie got ready to stand, then leant in to Teddy. "Does the word _retarded _mean anything to you?"

"Gordie, go and get the provision, you morphodite."

Gordie had started walking and now he looked back to us. "Shut up, and don't call me any of your mother's pet names."

As if on cue, Chris, Teddy and Vern all grouped together and started chanting. "I don't _shut _up, I _grow_ up. And when I look at you, I _throw _up," they shoved a finger down their throat and made a comical retching noise.

Gordie shot them daggers. "And then your mother goes around the corner and she _licks _it up," and then he hauled ass out of there.

We all made mock _oooos_, but Teddy wasn't offended in the least. Gordie was fast retreating and then suddenly Vern was clambering onto my lap.

He was half a head shorter than me, but a whole ton bigger. He curled into a ball and started squealing excitedly as Teddy lunged at him.

A bit confused at first, I caught on and realised a fight was breaking out. Not a hard-out brawl, but a play fight.

Chris joined in, laughing his strong yet sweet laugh. He shoved Vern off my lap and lay on his stomach across my lap. Picking himself up, he crawled over and attacked Vern, who ducked to the side. Chris then ended up on Teddy, and Vern jumped up on them.

I just laughed. I laughed and laughed and laughed as they hit each other and yelled and rolled around.

About 15 minutes passed, and I was still laughing. Now on my back, I had a hand on my stomach and my eyes closed. My shirt had come up a little, revealing a strip of my pale skin just above where my jeans sat high on my hips.

Suddenly, a large amount of water cascaded down onto my rib cage, where the skin was exposed. My eyes snapped open and I saw Chris standing above me, canteen in hand, a smile broad on his face.

I leapt to my feet and spun around. Grabbing the canteen from him, I started flicking the water into his face. He started backing up towards the pile of stuff, holding his hands up in a shield.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to find Teddy, whose face had gone morbidly serious. I stopped laughing, and Chris must've seen him, because he stopped as well.

Teddy said nothing, just raised his hand and pointed toward the entrance of the dump. I followed his hand and saw a shed. Next to the shed was a white truck. Getting out of the truck, was a man and his dog.

I turned back to the others, who seemed frozen in time. I put a finger to my lips and the nodded slowly. Well all knew who it was, and I imagine you do too.

I slowly grabbed mine and Gordie's mats, and gestured for the others to do the same. Making and effort to be silent as possible, we made our way back to the fence, inching our way so as not to draw any attention to ourselves.

The dump suddenly had all resemblance of a happy sort of play ground ripped from it. It was not a death trap, and there were mines everywhere. Or that's how it felt, anyway. The speed at whish we had to travel was painful, and all I wanted to do was sprint and volt over the fence as fast as I could. But it was better for all of us to remain stealthy.

We finally reached the chain link fence and started to climb slowly up it. It was incredibly difficult, as at the slightest touch, the wire would rattle and clink. But we did it.

Just as Vern heaved himself over the top, I caught sight of Gordie, walking freely through the middle. He stopped at out previous location, and saw we weren't there. Looking over to his left at us, he realised what was going on. Just as Milo Pressman yelled out to him.

Gordie jumped about a foot in the air, then started running frantically towards us, his arms and legs pumping furiously.

Milo was still yelling at him. But then another name came out.

_"Chopper, sic 'im boy. Chopper, sic 'im!"_

Gordie misheard him. He told me later that although in retrospect he knew it was just _sic him_, but at the time, he heard something much, much worse; _Chopper, sic balls._

A bone-chilling scream came from Gordie's wide open mouth, the shape of a capital _D_ turned 90 degrees anti-clockwise. He leapt up onto the fence and barely waited for a good foot-hole before scrambling to the top.

He launched himself off the top, and landed with a tumble just as Chopper threw his body at the fence.

I was expecting a Rottweiler, or something equally frightening. Maybe a pitbull. I think we all were, really. But what greeted us, was a golden retriever. A lap dog, at most.

Teddy laughed at the ludicrous discovery. He turned his back on the dag and rubbed his ass against the fence, taunting Chopper and calling him the strangely demeaning version of his name _Choppie_.

"Kiss my ass, Choppie," he said, and Chopper took the invitation with enthusiasm, latching his teeth onto the hem of Teddy's grungy green shirt, only to have it torn from him.

Milo, a large man in his forties at least, came puffing up to the fence, clearly very angry. "Hey, hey you boy. You stahp teasin' that dawg, yah hear me? Stahp teasin' that dawg!"

Teddy simply laughed, knowing that an old lump like him couldn't get over the fence for his life. "Sure, why don't you come over here and get me, _fatass_!"

Well all laughed and it was all fun and games, until Milo came back with something. I didn't quite catch what he fully said, but he called Teddy's dad a loony. And that didn't fit well with Teddy.

His face went serious and hurt and offended. "My father stormed the beach at Normandy," his tone was calm and even, which was more terrifying than when he got angry.

"Your father was crazy," Milo said, smiling. He knew he'd hit a soft spot. He knew it all too well. "A loony, up in Togus."

Teddy's face started twitching slightly as he tried to keep it straight. "You call my dad a loony one more time, and I'll kill you."

"Loony loony loony loony loony loony loony," Milo said sardonically.

That was when Teddy cracked. That was when I saw a side of him that I never saw again. It was then and only then that I saw the true torment inside of him boil to the surface.

He sprang like a coiled spring that had been under too much pressure and hooked his fingers in the chain link. _"I'll rip your head off and shit down your neck!"_

I reached forward in distress, and the other lads followed suit. We grabbed onto his shirt and lugged him off the fence.

Milo kept saying all this shit about Teddy's dad. I'd been told about Teddy's dad, how he had post traumatic distress, and how he was pretty much bat-shit crazy. I'm sure Teddy had thought of it before, late at night when the moon was shining through his open window. At that dark time in the middle of the witching hour when it seems sleep will never reach you. I'm actually certain it had crossed his mind in that void of restlessness, when all the bad thoughts came to light. But to have someone say it aloud, to his face. It must've killed him.

"You come ovuh here. You get ovuh here right naow," Milo said angrily.

"Sure, he'll go over there an' fight you," Gordie now stood up for his friend. "You only out-weigh him by about 500 pounds _fatass!_"

"You," Milo said, poking a finger through one of the gaps. "You're Lachance," he looked across to Chris and Vern and I. "I know all your names. Your fathers'll me gettin' a call from me," he smiled evilly at Teddy. "Except for the loony up in Togus."

Teddy ran at him again, but we held him back.

We dragged him away from the fence. He needed out of there. It was too much. He kept yelling at Milo that his father had stormed the beach at Normandy and Milo kept yelling for him to get back over there, but we ignored him.

We hauled him up to the tracks and took him back through the forest. We were all exhausted. As Gordie says, _we were too tired, and too much had happened._ And that's exactly how it was. We were all wiped out and the dump experience had completely ruined the mood to our trip.

Teddy kept crying, his head hung down. Chris and I had an arm each around his shoulders. I tried stroking his arm opposite me, and kissed the side of his head, through his thick blond hair. It was all very awkward, none of us knew what to say. So I just kept on stroking his arm and pressing my lips to his temple.


	7. Chapter 7

_7_

Finally, Chris stepped up to the plate. None of us really knew what to say to Teddy. He was crying too hard and I didn't know him well enough.

But Chris came in. teddy kept mumbling that he ranked his old man, and _no one_, ranked his old man.

Chris turned him around. "What d'you care what a bad old pile of shit like him says about your dad?"

"He still stormed the beach at Normandy, right?" Gordie said, picking up on the flow of things.

"Forget it," Teddy said, then started walking again.

"You think that pile of shit was at Normandy?" Vern piped up.

"I said forget it."

"He don't know nothin' about your old man. He's just dog shit," he continued.

"Whatever is between you and your old man, he can't change that," Chris came back in

"Forget it! Just forget it, alright?" Teddy dragged an arm across his face and we carried on walking in silence.

I still had an arm around his waist, and his shoulder kept brushing awkwardly against my side. I was about to let go when he stopped.

"Sorry if I ruined everyone's good time," he said, almost ashamed.

"No, love," I said, hugging him properly. "He was baggin' on yeh old man. Yeh can't apologise for that."

"I'm not sure it _should_ be a good time," we all looked to Gordie.

Chris shifted awkwardly form foot to foot, then furrowed his brow. "You sayin' you wanna go back?"

"No," Gordie said hastily. "No, but. Going to see a dead kid… maybe it shouldn't be a party."

We all nodded slowly.

"Yeah," Vern said, then hesitated. "Like, if he's real bad like all cut up with blood and shit all over him… I might have nightmares."

I laughed, walking over and kissing his cheek. "You're so cute!"

He seemed taken aback, but powered on, graphically describing what we might find.

"Jesus Christ, Vern," Chris yelled, not wanting to hear it.

"Sorry," Vern said, quietening down a bit. They walked on and he lifted his arm in frustration. "I can't help it."

I fell behind them again. But this time, it was Teddy and Vern in front, (singing Lollipop), Gordie and Chris in the middle, and little old me a few metres from them, bringing up the rear.

I was too far away to join in on their conversation, but close enough to hear what Chris and Gordie were saying.

"D'you think I'm weird?" Gordie asked timidly.

Chris laughed. "Definitely."

"No man, seriously," Gordie said, stopping him. "Am I weird?"

"Yeah. But so what? Everybody's weird," Chris shrugged and they kept walking. There was a pause. "You ready for school?"

"Yeah."

"Junior High. You know what that means? By next June we'll all be split up."

"What're you talking about, why would that happen?" Gordie seemed shocked and hurt that Chris would think that.

I knew I shouldn't have been listening in on their conversation. But I was just intrigued. I didn't think that Chris would be the one to bring school up.

Chris remained calm. "It's not gonna be like grammar-school, that's why. You're taking you'll be taking college-courses and me Teddy and Vern will all be in the shop-courses with all the rest of the retards making ashtrays and birdhouses. You're gonna meet a lot of new guys. Smart guys," despite the fact that he said retards, which I found incredulously offensive, what he was saying was so amazing that I overlooked it.

"Meet a lot of pussies is what you mean."

"No man. Don't say that, don't even think that," he seemed to be getting angry. But it wasn't at Gordie. I knew he was angry, but not at who. I didn't realise until much later that he was angry at himself.

"Not going to meet a lot of pussies, forget it!"

"Well then you're an asshole!"

"What's asshole about wanting to be with your friends?"

"It's asshole if your friends drag you down! You hang with us, you'll be just another wise guy with shit for brains," they went quiet and there was a pause before Chris started up again. "You could be a real writer someday, Gordie."

What Gordie said next horrified me. Horrified me because he could be the best selling author of all time. "Fuck writing! I don't wanna be a writer! It's stupid! It's a stupid waste of time!"

"That's your dad talking."

"Bullshit."

"Bulltrue. I know how your dad feels about you, he doesn't give a shit about you. Denny was the one he cared about, and don't try to tell me different!" I would've punched his lights out if it hadn't been true, which made what he was saying sadder. "You're just a kid, Gordie."

"Oh gee, thanks, dad!"

"I wish to hell I was your dad. You wouldn't be going around talking about taking these stupid shop-courses if I was. It's like God gave you something, man. All those stories that you can make up. An' he said: This is what we got for you, kid, try not to lose it. But kids lose everything unless there's someone there to look after them. And if your parents are too fucked up to do it then maybe I should." I was lost for words. Chris was so incredible. He just had a way with words, that he could just let them tumble out and they would hit you right where it counted and work a charm. I was just marvelling at his wisdom, and how he had just aged ten years. Suddenly Vern yelled back at us. They had gone about half a mile ahead and startled us a little.

"Come on you guys, let's get moving!"

Teddy joined in. "Yeah. By time we get there the kid won't even be dead anymore!" I walked briskly up a few metres and put a hand on each of Gordie and Chris' shoulders. "Come on lads," and I ran up to join Vern and Teddy, doing a couple of cartwheels, just because I could. I thought a while about what Chris had said to Gordie. I think that's when I started to see him in a new light. Not fully and utterly, but it certainly added a layer to him.


	8. Chapter 8

_8_

I didn't realise there was a bridge.

When we got to the trestle, my mouth dropped. My hands got clammy and I felt an anxiety attack coming on. Gordie joined my side and I gripped his arm.

He looked at me. "You okay?"

"Fuck no! How the fuck are we gonna get over this? What the fuck have you got me into Gordon?" I hit him on the arm, but not too hard. "Anyone know when the next train's due?"

"We could go down to the route 136 bridge," Chris offered, and the weight on my chest lifted.

"What? Are you crazy?" Teddy seemed shocked and the weight reapplied itself. "That's five miles down the river. And when you walk five miles down the river, you gotta walk five miles back. That could take till dark. We go across here, we can get to the same place in ten minutes."

"Yeah, but what if a train comes?" I said, my hands shaking at the thought. "Where the fuck are we supposed to go, there's no room t' just step aside!"

"Hell there isn't. You just jump."

Chris took my side. "Teddy, that's at least a hundred feet, you can't jump."

"Yeah Teddy," I said, my fingers still wrapped around Gordie's thin arm. "That's a hundred metres, and I don't want to DIE!"

"Okay," he said calmly. "You guys can go around if you want. But while you guys're draggin' your candyasses halfway across the state and back, I'll be waiting for you on the other side, relaxing, with my thoughts," he gave a sort of all-knowing nod.

Gordie cocked his head to one side. "Do you do use your right hand or your left hand for that?"

I spluttered with laughter, even though I didn't want to, and Teddy gave him the stink eye. "You wish."

Without and further discussion, we started to walk out onto the trestle. The boards were a good distance apart and I wanted to run and get it over and done with but I was too scared my foot was going to get stuck. I couldn't just cut across the river, even though I could swim relatively well, (gymnastics gave me strong arms), because there was a huge cliff to get down to it and another one to get up on the other side. So I was just going along practically shitting myself.

I ended up just hopping up onto the rail and gapping it. It wasn't very wide at all, but I did the bar and there wasn't much difference.

I heard a thump behind me and stopped, teetering slightly on my toes. My head spun around to look behind me and I saw Vern laying face down on the boards and Gordie just behind him. For a brief moment, I had this strange feeling that Vern was dead. I don't know. Maybe it was something to do with the fact that I could hear my heart in my ears a clear as the sky above us and I was terrified but something just slotted together in my brain and that's what I thought.

But then his hand came up and he looked over his shoulder and up at Gordie. I could just hear him.

"I lost the comb," his voice made it sound like a legit problem.

Gordie shook his head. "Forget it Vern."

And then Vern picked himself up and continued to crawl along on all fours.

I had the lead. Teddy and Chris were behind me and then way behind them were Vern and Gordie.

The bar was hot and even though it was flat it had rounded edges, if you can dig it. I kept on walking along it, being careful as I could not to fall.

I was just beginning to relax. I was thinking _hey, this is just like the bar back in the gym. I could probably do a backwards hand spring right not if I wanted._ I was just reaching out my hand when I started to feel the vibrations. I didn't know what it was, the rail was just shaking underneath my feet. Then just as I came to the realisation of what it was, Gordie beat me to it.

_"TRAAAAAAAAAAIN!" _he yelled out and I spun my head around once again.

Vern's face went sheet white. "Aw sheeeyit!"

He started frantically scrambling along on all fours. Gordie was pushing him along and yelling at him to get up. I could see the train rounding the corner and Teddy and Chris were charging at me.

I was stuck though. I wanted to run back to Gordie and help him but I wanted to get the fuck out of there. So I just stood, fixed to the spot, unmoving.

Chris was passing me and saw me staring blankly at Vern and Gordie. He stuck his arm out and hooked it around my waist, pulling me out of my trance. I spun on my heel and ran along the rail, managing to keep my balance by some incredible miracle.

I overtook Teddy and Chris and got to the end of the trestle. My mind was just panicking and I couldn't think straight. There was no form of order whatsoever in my mind. It was all just sort of _Get out Run Move Legs Train Rail Move Fast Die._

I turned to look at how the others were and saw that Teddy and Chris were definitely going to make it. But looking back to Gordie and Vern, I wasn't so sure.

Vern kept swearing and Gordie was yelling at him to move. My vision started blurring as I teared up. I suddenly erupted into great big heaving sobs and I lunged forward to run to them. Chris stuck his arm out again and grabbed my waist. This time, though, it was from behind.

He looped both his arms around me and held me back as I screamed out to Gordie, just his name over and over.

You know that voice on the movies, where their voice goes all screechy, but not high pitched, and the tears are streaming down their face? And it's all scrunched up but mainly you're concentrating on that awful scratchy noise that their voice makes? Well that's what my voice was like then. My throat felt like sandpaper and the words were just scratching their way out of my mouth.

_"Gordie!" _I kept fighting against Chris, desperate to reach out to Gordie.

The train was fast gaining on them, and I finally gave up and looked away, leaning into Chris and tucking my head into his chest. I scrunched my eyes as tight as I could and he maintained his hold on me. I could feel his hand awkwardly rubbing my back through my shirt.

I heard the train pass us and gripped Chris' tighter, holding onto the only sturdy thing that I could.

The sound of the train faded and Chris slowly lifted my upright. He placed a hand on my cheek and smiled at me reassuringly. I smiled back, but it was a worn out, tired, miserable smile.

He then walked past me to the other side of the tracks. I ran up to join him and stood on my toes on the rail, holding his arm. I was still crying and I could just make out two bodies in the rubble, cinder smoke billowing up around them. I listened, and was relieved to hear coughing. They were alive.

I ran down to meet Gordie halfway up the embankment. I flung my arms around his neck and he hugged my waist. I cried into his shoulder, running my hand through his short hair.

"Hey, calm down Khione. I'm fine," but his voice was shaky.

"You bloody well are not," I stuttered, my voice thick.

I pulled away and hit him on his upper arm. "Don't you _ever _fucking do something like that _ever _again, okay?"

"Okay," he took my wrists in his hands. "I promise."

I tried to keep them back but a wave of tear came forward and I flung my arms back around him.

We got moving again and the worst of the crying stopped, but I was still sniffling awfully. Gordie kept his arm around me and I practically used him as a walking stick to keep me upright. The others sort of went up ahead and tried to ignore it but I was completely and utterly distressed.

I'd almost lost Gordie.

Gordie.

He'd almost been hit by a train.

He was almost the next Ray Brower.


	9. Chapter 9

_9_

We finally stopped. It was getting late and the sky was starting to turn that bruised purple colour that it does on hot summer nights. It had been about twenty minutes since the train incident, but my cheeks were still tear-stained and my eyes were still puffy.

We set up camp, lighting a fire and rolling out our mats around it in a circle. I had mine about two feet away from Gordie, who was to my left, then on my right a few metres was Vern. I kept wiping my arm on my nose, still sniffling.

Gordie pulled out the hamburger meat he had bought at the Florida Market and we all stuck some on a stick. We were all sat around the fire cooking the meat.

Teddy laughed suddenly. "Man," he said, shaking his head. "That was the all time train-dodge. Too cool."

I looked at him, astonished.

"Vern," he continued, still smiling crazily. "You were so scared you looked like the fat guy in Abbot and Costello when he saw the mummy."

"I wasn't _that _scared," Vern said defensively.

"Then you wont mind if we check the seat of your jockeys for Hershey squirts then, will you?" Gordie said, receiving laughs all around.

"_Eeeee-eeeeee,_ well, at least you weren't as scared as Khione," Teddy said, and I had a sudden urge to clip him in the jaw. "You weren't even in any danger and you were bawling your eyes out!" he laughed again and Gordie looked at me sideways, knowing what was coming.

"Don't fuckin' start with me, Duchamp," I said, lowly. "Don't you fuckin' start that shit. D'yah know why I was cryin'? Why I was bawlin' me eyes out like the pussy you think I am?"

He knitted his eyebrows, shaking his head.

"I was cryin' like that because Gordie is the only family I 'ave right now. Me parents are dead, me cousin's dead, me aunt and uncle 'ave kicked me out the house, and now Gordie is the only one left. And I almost lost him back there. I don't wanna lose him, because I don't have anyone else, do I?"

I just stared at me, dumbfounded, mouth hanging open. I stared right back at him, my jaw tight. He nodded, looking shocked.

"Your folks're dead?" Chris asked after a while. When I turned to look at him, I expected him to be as shocked and scared as Teddy. But his eyes were only sympathetic.

I nodded, ducking my head slightly. I wiped a run away tear from just under my eye and looked back up. "They were in a car crash about a week ago and they both died. So I came here, because they gave the custody to Gordie's parents. But then his mum threw a fit at me and kicked me out of their house," I shrugged. "So now I guess I'm homeless and in a country where I don't really know anyone and I can't lose Gordie. I just can't even think about that."

Gordie put his arm around me and I rested my head on his shoulder.

"Yeah, come on Teddy," he said. "Don't be a dick."

Teddy just nodded again.

There was a short, awkward silence.

"Hey Vern," Chris said, once again breaking the ice I had once again formed. "You might wanna turn yours over."

"No, this is how I like it!" Vern insisted earnestly.

Chris held up one of his hands in mock surrender. "Fine, fine."

Of course, with Vern's luck, the meat fell off his stick about three minutes after chris told him it would.

We all laughed, even me. I felt a little better.

"Oh, man Gordie, you got any more?" he said, frantically looking through the ashes of the fire to retrieve the meat.

"Sorry, Vern," he said, taking his arm from around me and covering his mouth as he laughed.

"Not funny guys, what'm I gonna eat?"

"You could cook your dick," Teddy said.

"Be a small meal," Chris contributed, and we all laughed again.

Vern shot him a look and then went back to the fire. His face lit up. "Haha," he said, lifting his stick up with his meat back on it. "Screw you guys, I got it!"

I felt a lot better after that. Gordie started to tell a story and it was about some fat kid and I don't really remember it because I started to drift in and out of sleep with my head on his shoulder. The day had been long and I was exhausted. I had bad jetlag, I'd lost my aunt and my uncle and my parents and almost Gordie and I just needed sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

__**Sorry that this is such a short chapter. I may or may not post again tonight, but hope fully I will:) xoxo**

_10_

I was just dreaming about someone's face that had gone all fuzzy, when I heard a dog howling. It was loud and the person's face suddenly fame into extreme focus, but it was only for a second, just before I woke up.

I sat bolt upright. I had been lying down on my mat for god knows how long and the others had all grouped around.

Vern was whimpering and making irrelevant promises to god or some shit. _I promise I won't say no more bad swear, I promise I'll eat all my lima beans. _Stuff like that.

Teddy went up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

Vern spun his head around and screamed slightly.

Teddy smirked, balling his hand into a fist and punching Vern's arm twice. "Two for flinching."

I had to laugh at that, even if I was shit-scared of the howling.

"What is it Chris?" Gordie asked timidly.

"It might be coyotes," Chris said, looking out into the woods.

"It's not coyotes, it's his ghost!" Teddy insisted.

I laughed. "Don't be ridiculous. If it was, he wouldn't act like a fuckin' banshee."

Teddy got up to walk off into the woods where Chris was looking, but Chris protested.

"Siddown, Teddy!"

Teddy turned around to him and practically snarled at him. "I wanna see what it looks like."

But he was cut short by another set of howls and he quickly scrambled back to join us.

We sat there, dead quiet.

"Maybe we should stand watch," Vern offered, his hand shaking vigorously on my arm.

I turned my head to look down at him. "That's a well good idea."

He smiled up at me.

"Gimme the gun," Teddy said and my head snapped back up to him. "I'll take first watch."

To my complete and utter shock, Chris had a .45 pistol and was passing it to Teddy. I said nothing of it until we were all lying down and Gordie and I were looking at each other in the half-light of the fire.

"Why has Chris got a gun?" I whispered so only he could hear. I could barely hear myself but he could.

"He said it was spooky sleeping out in the woods at night. We might see a bear."  
"Or hear some coyotes," I thought for a second. "Where did he get it in the first place?"

"He hawked it off his old man. He's always drinking and won't notice it's gone."

We looked at each other for a while longer, and my blinking got longer and heavier and I knew sleep was fast approaching.

Just before I closed my eyes for the night I whispered again. "I love you Gordie. Don't ever leave me."

I could just hear his reply. "I promise."


	11. Chapter 11

**Okay, so just clearing up that NO GORDIE AND KHIONE WILL NOT BE HAVING AND INCEST FEST okay sorry but yeah. BUT OH MY GOLLY GOODNESS GUYS I AM SO PROUD OF THIS LIKE HOLY SHEEEYIT WOW I'M SO PROUD. It's probably still shit but hey I'm proud. Haha, hope you like the chapterrrr xoxoxo**

_11_

I had another dream about that fuzzy face. It all seemed very calm and perplexed until there was a loud snap and I sat bolt upright.

Looking around, my heart was in my throat and I saw it was still dark. Chris was leant up against a tree trunk, looking out into the woods over his shoulder. His knees were up and he held the gun loosely, casually in his hand.

I watched him for a time. That set jaw line, the light and the way it caught in his eyelashes and hair, turning them golden.

I stood up and walked over to him. He looked up to me and for a moment his face was innocent and small, but not in size. In age, and worry. He smiled a half smile and I took it as an invitation to sit down.

"What brings you here," he was about to say my last name, I could tell. But he realised he didn't know it and laughed. "What's your last name? I don't even know."

I laughed as well. "Lachance. Me and Gordie's dads were brothers, so we have the same last name."

"Okay. So what brings you here, Lachance?"

I laughed again, quietly so as not to wake the others. "I woke up, saw you here, you looked lonely, thought I might change that."

He nodded, then smiled. "Don't you like seeing me lonely?"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I asked, laughing.

"Well," he mumbled, then raised his eyebrows and rocked his shoulders back and forth. "y'know."

"No, actually. I don't believe I do."

He looked down, embarrassed. "Never mind then."

"Oh, come on. You've brought it up, not y have to finish it, don't yeh?" I got up onto my knees and put both my hands on his arms in hope that it would encourage him.

He shook his head. "You like me?"

I looked at him blankly for a moment, then laughed. "Nah, you looked lonely, I came up here to chat, gosh, is that not allowed?" I laughed again and so did he.

"Yeah, it is a little ridiculous now that I think about it."

We chatted for a while, just about random stuff. We carried on just like that, me facing him with my legs crossed, he facing the fire with his knees tucked up.

"So, is that true," he started, picking up a small stone and throwing it towards the fire. "What you said about your folks and that?"

I let my face drop. "Yeah."

"I'm really sorry," he met my eyes. His eyebrows were knitted together with concern and sympathy.

"Don't apologise," I'd always hated it when people did. "It's not your fault."

"Do you miss them?"

"Like hell. I miss them all the time. I mean, I'm only twelve. I kinda haffta."

He nodded solemnly.

"But it isn't all bad, I guess," I said, and my eyes fell to my lap.

"Really? How?"

"Well, I was in a bad situation back in England. Like, real bad."

"Is it personal or is it okay to ask?"

"No, it's okay," I sighed, my shoulders slouching. I started tracing my finger through the dirt between us.

"What happened?"

"Well, I met this guy, right? I know it seems silly, I'm only twelve, but I found this guy. And he was amazing," I smiled slightly and looked down again. "Really fantastic. He was nice to me, and funny, and sweet and kind and all that shit. But then I found out he was a piece of shit."

He laughed slightly and my eyes flitted up to meet his. "And so that was a real bad situation?"

"Well, no. that wasn't the whole thing, though. We used to meet up in this park, right? It was a real good place and we used to go there all the time. But then one day we were supposed to go to the movies, and I met up with him and not many people were around. An' he was real angry. Like, angrier than I'd ever seen anyone. Turned out his mum was pissin' him off, and I asked him if he was okay, so he said no of course not so I said to him 'Come on, let's just go and ferget about yeh mum, we'll have a ball of a time,' an' I put me 'and on his arm and he turned around an' punched me in the face."

There was a paused and I let him have a moment to soak it up.

"So then I wanted to leave him. I just stood there, right, in shock, yeah, coz like, I didn't think that he'd do sommet like that. Coz he was such a sweetheart. So then I said to him 'Okay that was uncalled for. I'm gonna go now,' and he didn't let me. He took out a knife an' he said to me 'If you leave, I'll kill you.'

"So what else am I supposed to do? I just went along with it. I didn't leave him. I was too scared he was gonna kill me coz he pulled the knife an' everythin'. I just had to go along with him. And I ended up stayin' with him for six months before me parents died in that car crash and I was allowed to leave."

I looked back up to Chris and was shocked by the intensity of his stare. He turned so that he was facing me fully and we sat with our legs crossed just looking at each other.

He took both my wrists and then dropped them almost immediately. He looked down at them, appalled.

"What are those bumps?" he asked, picking one up and looking at the angry red lines across the inside of my wrist.

"I fell into a rose bush," I told him sarcastically, and pulled my hand back from him, rubbing the scars.

"Really? Weird rose bush if it left perfect lines like that."

I laughed. "I was being sarcastic, silly," I hit his knee lightly with the back of my hand and then let it rest there. I started tracing little circles on his kneecap. "I, uhm. I cut meself."

His eyes widened. Then they got wider and wider and wider.

"Why?!"

I shrugged dismissively. "Because of that guy what I told yeh 'bout, Tom. Like I said; it was a real bad situation."

He sat in stunned silence. His eyes still wide.

Suddenly, without warning, I burst into tears. I lurched forward and wrapped my arms around his waist, my head pressed on his stomach. I gritted my teeth and tried to stop the crying but no matter how I tried I couldn't.

His arms found their way around my shoulders and he pulled me up to a sitting position. My chest was heaving and he placed his hand on my cheek. Keeping it there, he moved his thumb to wipe away a tear.

"Shh," he said, which was surprisingly incredibly soothing. "Shh, it's okay. He can't hurt you now. Don't worry."

His voice was calm and smooth and I let him coax me back into submission. His thumb continued to stroke my cheek and I turned my back to him.

I pulled my long, almost white blond hair over my shoulder and leant back on him. He put his arms around my waist and we just stayed there. My eyes began to get heavy again and my face felt dry and stained.

"Hey," Chris whispered to me, and I looked up to him. He was smiling down at me.

"What?"

"It's your watch."

"Mmmm," I closed my eyes again. "Stay with me?"

"Sure," he hesitated, then pressed his lips to my forehead.

It was arm and comforting and I smiled before I realised I was. I opened my eyes and he looked shocked at himself and embarrassed.

I propped myself up and turned to him. Gently slipping a hand behind his neck, I kissed him lightly on the lips.

It wasn't much of a kiss and it wasn't my first ever but it was special because it was the first one with Chris.

His lips felt warm and soft and melty and I could tell it was his first because he didn't really know what to do. He just sort of sat there and kept his lips on mine.

I spared him the awkward feeling and lay back down in his lap. I felt my eyes drooping and I drifted back to sleep.


	12. Chapter 12

_12_

I drifted in and out of sleep for a couple of hours and then Chris shook my shoulder, telling me it was Gordie's shift. I burrowed back down into my sleeping bag and tried to get a more solid sleep in.

I guess the fact that my head was in Chris' lap just made my heart go jumpy-jumpy the whole time. He had started playing with my hair and that was incredibly distracting. I found it cute that he would take it up and twirl it around and plait it and wrap it around his finger and what not.

I woke up when the freight train went past. The rumbling tapped into my dream about Tom. Talking about him had brought up all that stuff and in the dream he was coming at me in the cinema with a chain saw. The freight started coming towards us in real life and it merged in and suddenly Tom was driving a train right towards me.

I sat up and gasped. Chris looked at me as I caught my breath, my eyes bulging wildly out of my skull.

As he walked past me to meet Gordie, who was coming down over the tracks, he placed a hand briefly on my shoulder. My hand shot up and placed itself on his. He stopped, then crouched down next to me.

"You okay?" he asked, genuinely worried.

"Yeah," I croaked out. I swallowed and the words came out smoother. "Yeah I think so."

He came around in front of me and held out his hand to help me up.

We got moving pretty quickly. The thought of finding Ray's body was growing closer in our minds and we couldn't wait to get to it.

We stuck to the tracks, mucking around and they kept taking cheap shots at each other. I spent a lot of the leg laughing uncontrollably and clutching my stomach.

We had a breakfast of blue berries picked off a bush. Vern was scared they weren't blueberries and were poisonous, but we had them back in England, so I "tested" them for deadliness.

We walked, all five of us across the tracks, in blissful silence for a time.

"Say Gordie," Vern said, breaking the tranquillity. "Why couldn't you get some breakfast stuff, like Pez and Twinkies and root beer?"

I could see Gordie inwardly sighing. "Sorry Vern. I guess a more experienced shopped could've gotten more for your seven cents."

To which I spluttered and nearly choked on the blue berries.

After another hour or so of walking, we came across the RoyalRiver.

"There it is lads," I said, looking out at it wistfully, at how cool and clear it seemed.

Teddy looked down the tracks. "God, the tracks go right outta the way."

"We cut across here we'll be there in an hour," Chris prompted. I clicked my fingers and pointed to him in agreement, still looking out at the river.

"I think we should stick to the tracks," Vern said timidly, which invited Teddy to have a go at him.

We all went against his best efforts and cut across the field.

It was all fine and the long grass was great. But then we got into the woods and suddenly the ground was damp, despite the heat that was bearing down.

Then the real problem happened.

We came across a stretch of the RoyalRiver. It turned into a bit of a stilling swamp, that sat there sluggishly as if to tell us that Vern was right, and we _should _have stuck to the tracks.

"How the fuck are we supposed to get across this?" I asked, thinking about what colour my white shirt might be on the other side.

"I hate this short cut," Vern mumbled, almost to himself.

"I hate this short cut," Teddy mocked in a high pitched voice.

Vern lunged at Teddy, who flinched. Vern started laughing.

"You flinched! You flinched! Two for flinching!"

Teddy merely rolled his eyes and punched Vern twice in the upper arm. Vern's laughing trailed off.

"But, _you_ flinched."

"I know," Teddy said smugly. "Two for flinching."

Chris grabbed a branch as I laughed some more, clutching the stitch these boys had created. He stuck the branch in the water then tossed it to the side.

"Hey come on you guys it's not that deep. We can walk across."

I shifted my mat on my shoulder and we all took a couple of steps forward. But what Chris hadn't considered was that there might be a sudden drop off.

I emerged slowly, my mouth in a capital O shape, completely and utterly frozen.

"Told you we should've stuck to the tracks," Vern spat, mucky water spraying form his lips.

Teddy turned to him. "Is it just me, or are you the world's biggest pussy?"

"I suppose this is fun for you."

"No," Teddy said, a dangerously amused spark in his eye. "But this is."

Vern screamed as Teddy cackled, dunking Vern under the water.

I was laughing as well, but Chris wasn't as impressed. "Hey, come on Teddy man. Act your age."

"This is my age," Teddy announced proudly, lifting his arms up out of the water. "I'm at the prim of my youth, and I'll only be young once!"

"Yeah, but you're gonna stupid for the rest of your life," he was smiling and I could tell that he wasn't really that fussed by the whole situation.

"Oooooohhhhh," I said, then kicked back onto the surface of the water, laughing as I floated.

"You just signed your own death warrant, Chambers!" Teddy said, advancing towards Chris, who laughed as well.

I looked up at the gaps in the trees through the tears in my eyes. These guys were too funny. I just couldn't help laughing every time they said something, pretty much.

I stood up after a bit and saw that Teddy and Vern and Chris were still fighting. Gordie however, had waded over to the other side and was climbing onto the bank.

"Hey," I called out to him. "Where d'yeh think you're going, Lachance?"

"Yeah, Lachance," Vern joined in.

Suddenly we were all swimming over to him and jumping on his back. He collapsed onto the bank, and Vern looped his arm around his neck.

"Sleeper hold, sleeper hold, can't escape the sleeper hold!" he sang, laughing as he did.

"Vern, there's something on your neck!" Gordie said, his voice shaking.

I climbed up out of the water, and looked down at my newly brown shirt. I looked down at the pile of boys.

"Yeah right, I'm not falling for that one Lachance," Vern taunted, still with his arm hooked around his neck.

I craned my neck and when I saw it my blood ran cold. "No, Vern, there really is something on your neck."

Teddy looked too. "It's a leech," then he realised what he'd just said. "_Leeches!_"

They all leapt up and started pulling their clothes off. I screamed at the top of my lungs and whipped off my shirt, slapping the fat with blood leeches. Then I unbuttoned my jeans and yanked them down, not concerned in the least about what the lads might say.

I was screaming and screaming and I turned away to look where I really didn't want to look.

Without a second thought, I plunged my hands into my bra, hoping with all hope I didn't find one.

"Khione!" Chris yelled from behind me. "You got some on your back!"

Then he was behind me, hitting my skin and getting them off.

I just screamed and double checked they weren't on my boobs. I don't know what I would've done if I found one there, but I'm glad I didn't.

I turned around when Chris had stopped. He then turned around I and I saw there were leeches on him as well. I wiped my hand furiously down his back and got them all of.

The screams and panic dies down and we all thought we were safe. Then Gordie looked down at his boxers.

He looked up to Chris. "Oh shit Chris, oh shit man."

My hand flew to my mouth as his slowly lowered itself to his crotch. He slowly pulled out another leech, his hand drenched with blood.

His eyes rolled back into his head and he fell backwards onto the ground. I swallowed the dry-retching and rushed to his side. Although I was still practically naked and I realised Teddy would enjoy that very much, I knelt down and out his head in my lap, bending over him.

"Gordie?" I asked, brushing his hair back from his face. "Gordie, are you okay?"

The others gathered around us.

"Gee, I never met someone who fainted before," Vern said, completely without empathy.

Teddy shot him a look. "Maybe he made a bad mistake and looked at your face."

"Hey," Chris said, ever the voice of reason. "Come one guys. You alright Gordie?"

Gordie stayed just as he was, ly9ing lifelessly on the damp ground.

"Maybe he's dead?" Vern asked and I couldn't help but snicker.

"Of course not Vern," I said, trying to stop myself from laughing. "Look, he's breathing."

Gordie began to stir and he opened his eyes to immediately meet mine. "Khione?"

"Yeah, I'm here. You alright there mate?"

He nodded, but I could tell he was feeling pretty groggy.

"Come on," I stood and helped him up. "Let's sit down for a bit, shall we?"

He nodded again and put his hand up to his head. It still had dick blood all over it so I took him to the edge of the lake and made him wash it off. I pulled my jeans back up over my hips and hung my shirt over a branch. Then we leant against a tree and sat there, him leaning against me, my arms wrapped around his middle.

The others were off to the side debating whether or not to go on. I pressed my lips to Gordie's head, just behind his ear. "You feeling any better?"

"I don't know," he sighed. "I just… yeah."

"What's your problem Duchamp? He had a leech hanging from his balls, and he fainted!" I heard Chris raise his voice.

"What are you, his mother?" Teddy shot back.

"Eat shit."

"You eat shit!" Teddy shoved Chris back.

"Hey, maybe Chris is right, I think we should go back," Vern said timidly.

"Oh, what a surprise," Teddy said. "The kind of the pussies wants to go back too!"

"Stop calling me that!"

"What, pussy?"

"Stop it!"

"Pussy!"

"Stop it already!"

Then Gordie started to softly tell them both to stop it.

"Pussy pussy pussy pussy pussy!"

"You for-eyes psycho!" and then Vern launched himself onto Teddy and started punching him.

_"Stop it!" _Gordie yelled, and they did.

We all stared at Gordie in stunned silence.

"I'm not going back."

"Gordie love," I started, but he had gotten up and started walking again. I looked up to Chris. He shrugged, picking up his bedroll and following after him.

I picked myself up and got my shirt off its position in a branch. I pulled it over my head and grabbed my bedroll. Then we all trudged on.

I thought about why Gordie wanted so badly to see that body. I thought about it long and hard and narrowed it down to one thing.

Dennis.


	13. Chapter 13

_13_

Before I continue, let me explain.

Yes, Chris and I kissed. And I loved it. I didn't know how he felt about it until much later. But I enjoyed it.

I found that as time went on, I enjoyed that first little kiss that lasted about seven seconds more and more. Which is weird. So now I think back on it and I smile form ear to ear. In fact, right now, my mouth is taking up about 80% of my face.

At the time, I didn't know what was going to happen. We carried on that next day like nothing had even happened. We just stayed closer as we walked. Nothing was said, but we knew what had happened. We weren't together, we weren't apart.

Awe both decided without discussion that we weren't going to do anything about that kiss. Just keep it secret as a fond memory. We kept it to ourselves and I don't think anyone knows about it even now. Well, unless they're reading this, like you are, Dear Reader.

We carried on much as we were before. I don't know why neither of us did anything. Maybe it was because I was still recovering from Tom, and he knew and respected that. Maybe neither of us were ready for a relationship. Maybe he didn't know what to do and I was waiting for him to do something. Either way nothing happened immediately afterwards.

I sometimes look back and thin what _would've _happened if we _had _done something. I sometimes wished that as soon as he woke me the next day I had pulled him down and kissed him again. But that would've taken all the fun out of the next few years. They wouldn't have been as rewarding.


	14. Chapter 14

_14_

We finally met back up to the tracks after far too long of trudging through the undergrowth. Gordie had taken the lead and I was beginning to worry about him.

"I bet we saved about an hour coming through the woods," he said, then hesitated when he saw the rail. "Teddy?"

"Yeah?"

"This the Back Harlow Road?"

Teddy stepped over the rail and looked both ways. "Yeah, this is it."

"Brower kid must be around here someplace," Chris said, joining them. Then Vern walked past me as well. I stood at the foot of the embankment. "Vern, Teddy, you take the left side of the tracks. We'll take the right," he looked over his shoulder and smiled at me.

"Alright then," I said, going up to the opposite side of the tracks. "Let's do this."

We all powered solemnly onwards. None of us spoke, we just looked out into the woods on our own side.

I personally couldn't see a thing. Just tree, tree, bush, bird, tree, tree, small animal, bush. It was honestly so boring. But every time I saw something that I thought wasn't supposed to be there, my heart jumped. The tension had built up and up over the past day and I couldn't handle it.

So you can imagine that when Vern started yelling that he saw the body, I had a fucking heart attack.

We all rushed over to Vern, who continued to point down to a clearing next to the river. In a clump of old branches, we all saw that Vern had seen the body. We just stood there, unmoving, unbreathing. It felt like we stood there for days, weeks, months, years, before Chris snapped out of it, pushing past us and stumbling down the slope to where Ray was. That broke the rest of us out of our trance and we followed quickly after him. I stood right next to him and looked grabbed his arm with both hands. We all watched as Gordie pulled back one of the branches to reveal what we had come all this way to see.

I heard a sharp intake of breath from all of us, and I gripped Chris' arm tighter.

To be perfectly honest, Ray didn't look all that bad. I heard that on the London Underground, some guy got hit by the tube and they found his head about three kilometres further down the line, so I wasn't expecting to see Ray in one piece. The full extent of his injuries was bruising and maybe a broken bone or two. But the real damage would've been internal. Y'know, like his organs and shit. The impact would have killed him.

I looked away. I just couldn't take it. He was just staring straight up into the sky, his mouth slightly open, he eyes unseeing. I kept expecting him to sit up suddenly, laughing. _Jaykays! _He'd say. _I wasn't dead, yah mutha fuckas!_ And it scared the shit out of me. It really did.

So I looked up towards the rail road, and suspended in the branches of a tree, were a pair of bright red Keds. Just like mine. I stood there, staring at them, then I started crying, and then my stomach heaved.

I ran off as far from the others as I could, and chucked my guts into a bush. I fell to my knees and cried great big heaving sobs into this bush. It was like a little shrub, dried brown by the sun and now drenched in vomit. I cried and cried. I felt four pairs of bewildered eyes trained on me, but I didn't care. It wasn't that I was disgusted or the body was gross. I'd seen people in much worse states when I went to the hospital with my mum. It was his Keds, hanging lifelessly in the tree. It was just too daunting.

"Let's get some long branches," Chris said, deflecting the attention away from me. "We can make a stretcher."

I heard them shuffling around and breaking twigs. I just cupped my elbows with my hands and cried. After a while I vomited again, but I never stopped crying.

I heard Gordie's squeaky cry behind me, his voice at breaking point, saying that his dad hated him.

I looked up to the sky, focusing myself, getting a grip on the real world again. I wiped my eyes with my wrists and my mouth with the back of my hand. Then I stood up and began to make my way back over to Chris and Gordie. But I was stopped.

"Well what the fuck do you know about this?" I froze. I couldn't actually see who it was, because I had made it just into the woods. So I was concealed.

I couldn't make a guess as to who was there, because I didn't know anyone apart from Gordie's parents and Vern and Teddy and Chris. But then another person joined the first.

"Son of a bitch, my little brother!"

I imagined that it was either Billy, Vern's older brother, or Eyeball, who was Chris'. They were a part of the Cobras, along with some other guys. Gordie had told me about them fleetingly, and how he was shit scared of them. But he wouldn't ever tell anyone that. I decided to hang back a bit. I didn't know how they would react to a girl on the scene and I figured that it was a strictly male-zone.

I heard the first voice again. "You wasn't planning on taking the body from us, was you boys?" he sounded patronising, and his voice was smooth. It never wavered or seemed angry.

"You get away, man," the four boys had all gathered together, Chris taking the front. "We got here first, we got dibs."

The first guys laughed pityingly. "Oh, better start running Eyeball, they got dibs."

"We earned him man," I was starting to get annoyed with the way Chris was referring to Ray. Like he was just an object. "you came in a car, that's not fair. We earned him."

The second voice, who I figured was Eyeball, began to imitate him in a whiny voice. "'That's not fair, he's ours,' well not any more."

"There's five of us Eyeball," Teddy cut in, obviously not realising that I was off to the side. "You just make your move."

"Oh we will," the first voice said. "Don't you worry."

I heard four more boys shuffle to the top of the clearing, and suddenly two more people slid down the bank.

"Vern you little sonofa whore!" Billy was the first of the new lot to have a go at them. "You was under the porch!"

Vern looked terrified. He started shaking his head madly, his face completely stricken. "No, I swear, it wasn't me!"

Billy ignored him. As he started cussing excessively and Vern ran off wailing, I shuffled forward to see them through the foliage. I could see why Gordie was so scared of them. They were all about eighteen, pretty tough, and relatively strong. And quite good looking, to be perfectly honest.

"Besides," the awkward looking blond one said. "Me an' Billy found him first."

Teddy laughed and my heart stopped. I crossed my fingers and hoped to hell and back that he wouldn't say something stupid. Which, of course, he did.

"Oh yeah, Vern told us all about how you 'found him,'" he put on a high voice. "'Oh Billeee, I wish we never boosted that car, oh Billeee, I think I just turned my Fruit of the Looms into a fudge factory, oh Billeee-"

"That's it, yah, your ass is grass," he started forward but the first, patronising guy stuck his arm out and stopped him.

"Hold it," he turned to the younger boys. "Okay Chambers you little faggot, this is your last chance. What do you say, kid?"

I was worried about Teddy, obviously. But it never occurred to me that Chris would say something that dug his hole deeper. "Why don't you go fuck your mother some more?"

I mentally did a facepalm.

The guy just laughed. Then he pulled out a knife and pointed it to Chris. "You're dead."

"Come on Chris, let's split," Teddy said.

"They're not taking him," Chris said, his eyes fixed on the guy with the knife.

"Come on, man, that's crazy."

"They're not taking him."

"He's got a knife man," Teddy said, running off to join Vern.

"You're gonna have to kill me, Ace," Chris said, ignoring Teddy and standing his ground.

Ace smiled. "No problem."

Ace charged at Chris and I ran out. I tackled Chris around the waist and heard a gun shot and I thought that somehow, Ace had gotten Chris and he was dead. But when I lifted my head from Chris' chest, I saw he was still okay.

I rolled off him and we got up. Ace was staring in the direction of the RoyalRiver, so I followed his gaze.

Gordie slowly lowered a .45 gun and pointed it directly at Ace.

"You're not taking him," the seriousness of his tone frightened me. More than the leeches, more than when he was bawling about Denny.

"Gordie," I said, my voice raspy from the crying and the vomiting. "put the gun down."

Ace snickered, composing his face. "Listen to your girlfriend, Lachance."

I shot Ace a look. "I'm his cousin, you idiot," then I turned hastily back to Gordie. "Gordon Lachance you put the fucking gun down _now, _or god help you I will come over there and fucking smash yer face in with it."

"Come on, Lachance," Ace said, his voice still with that calm, even tone. "Gimme the gun. You must have at least some of your brother's good sense."

I slowly turned my head, my jaw dragging on the ground as I did so. That just went over the line and I knew Gordie wouldn't stop now.

Gordie loaded the gun. "Suck my fat one, you cheap dime-store hood," he practically spat the words out.

"What, you gonna shoot us all?" but Ace was beginning to doubt that Gordie was bluffing.

"No Ace. Just you."

There was a great deal of silence. I became aware of every little sound in my body. The breath going in and out of my lungs, the delicate thud of my heart, my long blond hair blowing on my ears. Gordie and Ace just stared at each other.

"We're gonna get you for this," Ace said, pointing his knife at Gordie. Then with a flick of his head, the Cobras were back on the move.

"Maybe you will, maybe you won't," Chris said beside me.

Jus before he disappeared over the tracks, Ace turned back. "Don't think we'll forget it. This is big time baby."

Suddenly the weight was lifted and I wasn't distracted anymore and my stomach heaved again and I sprinted for my little dried up shrub just past the line of the undergrowth.


	15. Chapter 15

**Hey giuse:3 well sorry I haven't posted in quite a while, aha:) I just couldn't be bothered using my brain ugh. But ah well, better late than never, right?  
There's a bit of Khione-Chris romance in here(; so please please please tell me what you think of it in your review! Thanks lovlies, ily x0x0**

_15_

The journey back home was complete and utter torture. I still felt ill and light headed and I was exhausted. I was dreading going back to Castle Rock. I didn't have a place and I didn't have any money.

We decided to leave him. I pulled out a blanket and draped it over his upward facing body and we moved solemnly on. An anonymous call was agreed on.

I didn't want to stop. We walked all that day and all that night and crossed the bridge into Castel Rock at around 5 o'clock. I was exhausted and so were the lads. We had been thinking too hard to speak. The only time anyone had piped up, was back on the trestle. We stood there for a bit, in the cool night air.

"Fuck it," Chris said. "If a train comes it can run me over."

And we all followed after him.

Castle Rock hadn't made much of an impression on me, having come from New Castle. But after that it was even less impressionable. Much, much smaller.

I suddenly had no idea where I was, so I just followed the general direction that the lads were going in, not knowing what I would do. Finally, they all staggered to a halt at a junction. We all faced each other.

"Well," Vern started after a brief moment of stillness. "See you in school."

"Yeah," Chris said softly.

"Yeah," Gordie agreed.

"See you in junior high," Teddy added.

"I'll see you around love," I pitched in, knowing there would be no school for me.

Vern turned and walked off over the road towards his place. In the middle, he squatted down and picked something up. He turned and held it up, smiling at us over his shoulder. "Penny!"

He carried on down his road and we left him to it. Teddy turned to us.

"Well, I'd better get off home before my mom puts me on the ten most wanted list," he started off in the opposite direction from Vern, but hesitated and turned to Chris. "Hey Chris? No hard feelings, okay?"

Chris half smiled and shook his head honestly. "No way man."

Teddy nodded, then walked off towards his place, singing as he went.

Gordie, Chris and I made our way to the tree house. Through the town, we didn't speak. We just ploughed on to the vacant lot above which the tree house hung in the branches of an old elm.

We faced down the hill, the tree house and Gordie on my right, the other large tree at the end of a slope, plus Chris, on the left.

"I'm never gonna get out of here, am I?" Chris said, his voice whispery and shaky.

"You can do anything you want, honey," I said, and he faced us. Gordie nodded in agreement. Chris did another half smile. A dry, tired half smile, that caused his face to age about fifty years. A smile that sucked all the life out of him in the golden morning light. "Yeah, sure."

There was a brief silence as we all processed what had just been said. Then he walked around and stood in front of Gordie. "Gimme some skin man," and his voice was as dry as his smile.

They gave skin, then he stood in front of me. I swallowed, but it caught in my throat. It broke my heart to see him so drained, so given up of hope, even though I'd only know him barely two days. He stood there awkwardly in front of me and I held my breath the quench the sobs, but a tear ran down my cheek. Before he could pick it up, I flung my arms around his neck, planting a kiss right on his cheek and rose up onto my tippy toes.

His arms wrapped around my middle in the most comforting embrace. He gently rocked me back and forth, so that I could only just feel he was doing it. I didn't want to let go, but I did.

We smiled and nodded again to each other in a stiff fashion.

"I'll see ya," I said lowly.

He snickered, and the smile perked up a bit. "Not if I see you first."

Then he turned on his heel and walked down the slope, towards the large tree. At the end, just before he disappeared out of sight, he looked over his shoulder and waved to us. Gordie held up his hand and I did my trademark-finger-wave back to him, biting my lip.

When I was sure he couldn't see or hear us, I spun around, taking Gordie quite by surprise.

"What the fuck do I do now?" I said loudly, and he just stared.


	16. Chapter 16

**Hey there guise:3 so hopefully this one is a little longer aha:) yeah sorry, I wanted to have it clean so that I had a chapter that was definitely the aftermath of Ray Brower, so it was quite brief. This one I am actually really proud of. It's probably really shitty in the way that it;s written but idgaf aha:) I personally love it because what happens and aw gawsh it's so cute:3 aha, sorry.  
So anywayssss, enjoy guys and you'll know what the cute part is so tell me what you think of it when you're done ily all so much x0x0**

_16_

**A month later**

I ended up in the tree house.

Not the best place, especially at night if it was raining or windy. But it had walls and a roof.

Yeah, that was me. The homeless foreigner that stayed in an old tree house that smelt awfully and had a bunch of guys hanging about. Lots of rumours went around about me. Lots of them. One day, I was beating Vern up for his pennies, the next I was having sex with all four of them. None of it was true, of course. I couldn't hurt Vern if my life depended on it and I was twelve so I wasn't having sex anytime soon.

The lads came and went as they pleased, but found out quickly that my moral wasn't as good as it used to be.

I fucking hated that goddamn tree house with such a passion. It was far too hot and far too cold and it had no kitchen or bathroom and I had no money or address so I was on my own. I tried to get a job at a café but I was too young so they gave me a free meal and that was it. The lads were good to me and sometimes brought me left overs from their meals, but it wasn't enough. Not nearly. I was losing weight fast and my bones felt like they would snap, or I would get picked up by the wind. My hair was greasy and limp and matted. My skin was forever covered in a layer of grime, and I had to wash in the CastleRiver, which was less than desirable. One day, I just couldn't take it any longer.

It was just me and Chris up there. I spent a lot of time with him. He was nice and stable and I knew I could lean on him. We were playing cards and he reached behind him.

I had my period. And having your period when you don't have a bathroom is about as bad as you can get. I felt disgusting and angry and hungry, so I snapped at him. "What the fuck are you doing?"

He simply turned back and I saw he was grasping a packet of Winstons he'd pulled off the shelves. He rolled a ciggie and lit it up. Thinking it would be okay, which it usually was, he drew in on it and blew the smoke in my face, laughing.

I stood up, throwing the chair back. "Don't you fucking dare do that!"

His face fell. "Hey, it's all right, it's only a bit of smoke."

_"That's not the fucking point, Chris! The point is that you come in here, my fucking house, and blow smoke in my face like it's no big fucking deal! Do you have any respect for me? You think I like it, when you come in here and leave a mess for me to clean up, just so I can sleep? No, so don't you fucking dare do that ever again you fucking little cunt!"_

As I was spitting my words at him, he had risen out of his seat. I stared at him, my jaw set. Then I started crying. He rushed to my side as I sank down to a crouch. He wound his arms around my shoulders and let me rest my head on his shoulder.

"I fucking hate it here Chris," I whispered softly into him after the tears had slowed a little. "I can't fucking stand it here."

"Shh shh," he said, kissing the top of my head and stroking my long hair down my back. "It's okay."

"No it bloody well isn't," I snapped. "I need a proper fucking house. Not this shit heap," I sighed, lifting my head so we were eye to eye. "What am I gonna do?"

He thought, his eyebrows pushed together. Then he smiled in a moment of eureka. "Hey, you could come live with us!"

I brightened up as well. "Really? You don't mind?"

"Hell no! Not if it's you," he smiled widely and we just looked into each other's eyes. Then I realised something.

"Wait, where will I stay? And what about your dad?" intense fear came over me and I gripped his shirt. "What about your mother fucking dad?"

"You can have Frank's old room, it's at the back with mine," he paused, then caught on to why I was so scared of his dad. "Don't worry," he placed a hand on either side of my face, his thumbs resting parallel to my nose. "He won't hurt you. You're not his kid to hurt. Don't worry."

"But even when he's hitting you and Eyeball," I shuddered. "It'll resurface way too many old memories of Tom and," I sighed, slumping onto my knees and putting my head on his chest. "I won't be able to take that."

He put a finger under my chin and lifted my head so our eyes met. "I won't let anything happen to you, I promise."

We stayed like that, perfectly still. The reality that I might have a house sank in. The reality that I would be living with Chris then sank in, setting off butterflies in my stomach.

I would be living in the same house as him. With our rooms next door to each other. And we'd be eating together, working together, and wow.

With a sudden lurch of excitement, I straightened my body and pressed my lips onto his.

It was like that first kiss in the woods at first. But then his hand slid round from my chin and placed itself on my neck. I wrapped my arms around his neck and his hand slid down to my hips.

He pulled me into him and we stayed there for a time, our lips still on one another. Then we started moving them and we kissed for god knows how long. When I caught my daughter kissing her boyfriend in the same way I do believe I described it as "chewing each other's faces." Or something along those lines.

When we felt it was a good time to break apart, we did. We kept our foreheads pressed against each other, then smiled, breathing the same air.

His lips had been as warm as it they had in the woods. But now it lasted longer and had more movement, I could feel that they were soft and melty. Our mouths moved in immaculate timing, fitting together perfectly. His hands rubbed up and down my back and I twirled the tips of his hair with my fingers at the back of his neck. That was the best kiss I think I ever had with Chris. Not including that first one, of course, as that's what started our whole relationship. But that kiss started the chain. It started what I loved so much about Chris and I. The way we kissed, like we wouldn't ever have the chance to kiss again. Like what we had may have been taken away from us the second we broke a part.

That was the first kiss that was like that. The first one where I didn't want to break it. The first one where I felt a warm stirring inside of me. The first one where I felt completely and utterly safe with him. Safe from the world, the pain, the awful "house" that I was living in.

We then lay on my mattress on the floor and talked. Just talked about random shit that probably wasn't relevant to anything at all. But it was nice.

Neither of us could stop smiling. I know that I just felt amazing about what had happened between us and I imagine it was the same for him. I couldn't stop smiling.

After about an hour, he helped me pack my things and we both set off to his house.

The house was way fucking bigger than everyone made it out to be.

I was expecting a shed. A full on little garden tool shed sized house. It was way fucking bigger.

It was shabby and run down and falling apart, but it didn't sound like a Jamaican drum whenever it rained, so it was better than the tree house. It was more of a cottage, Chris' house was. There were four bedrooms, (all tiny), a living room that turned into a dining room that turned into a kitchen, (which was also tiny if you counted it as three different rooms), a bathroom/loo, (which was so small Vern could barely fit in it), and a laundry next to my room out the back, (which didn't provide any room for any movement at any time).

After the initial tour, I realised we were alone there. Eyeball was probably out with the Cobras, and their old man was probably out getting wasted. Frank hadn't been around. He was in jail for rape and I was glad he wasn't coming back any time soon, to be honest with you.

I set my stuff down in my room and looked around. Chris stood behind me. It was small, very small. There was one window, a single bed, a closet, and a bedside table. The amount of free space was about 3x2 metres squared. By the time my bags were in as well it was even less.

I sat on the edge of the bed, which had a thick light blue duvet on it. Even the bed was tiny. I didn't see how an 18 year old boy could fit in it. I mean, I could, as I wasn't much bigger than a hobbit. But how frank slept at night I had no idea.

Chris walked over and sat on the bed next to me. I looked at him and smiled and he smiled back at me. Then I leant forward and planted a quick kiss right on his lips. After about three seconds I broke away, then got up and looked in the linen closet in the teeny tiny laundry. I found a towel and opened the door to the bathroom.

Chris came up behind me. "What are you doing?"

"I spent a whole month of washing meself in the river. I am now going to have a gloriously long shower and wash meself extremely thoroughly, if you don't mind," I kissed him lightly on the cheek. "See you in a couple of hours."

I shut the door and did have a gloriously long shower. It was well and truly wonderful. I don't think I have ever had a moment of greater bliss. I scrubbed the multiple layers of grit from my body, combed my hair through, shaved, and no longer did I feel like a cave man.

After only an hour, I wrapped the towel under my armpits and stepped out of the bathroom onto the cold wooden floor.

I shut the door behind me and turned quietly around.

I was planning to slip back to my – Frank's – room, but I was instead faced with Eyeball and Ace, who just stared me up and down. I just stood there awkwardly, holding my towel in place.

I was shit scared of those guys. Terrified. Which is ridiculous looking back on it now. There was an unbearable silence. Then Ace started laughing. I curled my toes.

"What the fuck are you?" he said, in the same patronising voice I remembered so clearly.

"Khione," I said, standing a little straighter. "I'm Khione and I live here."

They laughed again. "Weren't you at the little," Ace tried to find the right word for what happened. "Run-in, with those kids?"

I nodded slowly.

"Well, I don't believe you got your beating, did you?"

Then my eyes went wide as they started walking towards me. "Fuck off, I'm in a towel," I said, then ducked to the right and went into my room, shutting the door.

I hastily got changed and wrapped the towel in a turban over my head. When I opened the door, Chris was just reaching out for the handle. He looked up at my towel-turban and tried not to laugh but did anyway.

I hit him, but I was smiling. "Shut the fuck up, what's the matter?"

"I dunno," he said, still laughing. "But what the fuck is on your head?"

"It's a towel, you dumb fuck," I said, reaching up and tucking a strand of hair up into it. "It's just easier."

"That's ridiculous!"

"You, sir, are rude as fuck," I said slowly, then walked straight past him into the kitchen. But I had forgotten about Ace and Eyeball and found them waiting for me there.

"Right," Eyeball said, and terror once again gripped me. "Time for your welcome."

Instead of backing down and letting shit happen, which I would've done usually, I stood up. "You get the fuck away from me. I'm sick and tired of everyone being idiots and I am _not _going to let you do shit to me okay? So you're gonna sit your ass down and leave me the fuck alone," I put my hands up to open and cabinet above the sink, then looked over my shoulder and added. "Plus, I'm a girl. So you can't beat me up."

They stood there, watching me in my short little dress and my towel turban as I made two sandwiches, giving one to Chris, who had joined us halfway through my little speech. We both sat at the tiny little table and ate our sandwiches as Ace and Eyeball continued to stare and those were some bloody good sandwiches if I don't say so myself.


	17. Chapter 17

_17_

**FOUR YEARS LATER (catch up)**

I was sixteen. My second to last year at high school, then I was off into the "real world," as I called it back then.

Silly, really, how I thought of Castle Rock back in those days. I thought it was too small to count as a proper place. I acted almost as if it was all a game. That it was just for a bit, then it was back to "real life," into my mother's arms for tea and biscuits.

Either way, I was still in the high school there, enrolled in the college courses.

Chris' family had no problems with me staying there. Eyeball and I, along with all his mates, ended up getting along really well. Really, _really _well. They accepted me pretty quickly, to be honest. I thought it would take time, that they would have to get past my being with the younger lads when the Ray Brower incident happened. But no. It was much sooner than that.

The ice got its first crack that first day I was at Chris', and I had a go at them. That's when they realised I wasn't just a little kid. Then later that month, they had a huge get together, which entailed much drinking. The ice well and truly cracked at that party, when I talked to Charlie and Billy for a few hours and got off my face with them.

Then, when I was fourteen, they had the biggest party you have ever heard of. 114 boxes – not _bottles, boxes_ – of beer were brought in, plus a whole world of spirits. Of course, I was now apparently of an age at which I could drink in such a way, so I did. I also ended up smoking a lot of weed, which I now regret immensely. I just look back at some of my behaviour that night and cringe.

Anyway, at that party, Eyeball came onto me and we had tash-on and then he and I were as close as close is close. Then Ace warmed up to me when I took care of him as he was passed out in the teeny tiny bathroom, practically swimming in his own vomit.

Jack and Fuzzy I guess just saw how I was with the others and decided I was fine. I don't remember a certain occurrence that made us click, but it was a gradual process.

So I eventually wriggled my way into their lives, completely unaware that I was doing so. But I'm glad I did, and that they let me, because they made up a lot of what was fun for me in that time.

Now, Vern and Teddy began to drift away from Chris and Gordie. But I wasn't having any of it.

I asked Gordie about it once when we were about thirteen, and he just shrugged it off. "Friends come in and out of your life like bus boys in a restaurant," he said dismissively, then returned to his slasher comic.

Chris wasn't much better. "They've changed. Friends drag you down, Khione. That's what always holds you back," we were sat at his little kitchen table, and he put a hand on mine, smiling reassuringly at me. "You gotta choose the right ones."

I smiled back at him. Before he had the chance to realise it was a wry smile, I leant forward and briefly kissed him. I pulled away and continued on with my homework.

They had clearly moved on, but I wasn't done with them. I had experienced something huge with them, something that had changed all of them. So I made a huge effort to stick with them, to never forget them.

I somehow got a place as Vern's protector. I wasn't physically as strong as some of the guys that hassled him, but I was faster. And I was certainly good at knocking them into the ground with words. So he would always come to me if he was in need, and I would always deliver in a totally nonsexual way.

Teddy and I just clicked. We were both crazy, and we just got along so well. I found that if I was upset, the kind of upset that didn't make me need to talk, but need to brush it off, that I would go to him. He had this incredible way of just making me forget about everything. So I couldn't ever bring myself to leave him.

Gordie and I stuck to each other like glue. He was the only family I had left, and I had no intention of losing him. He was everything to me, and I to him. I think it goes without saying, that he was like a brother to me.

Chris. Where the fuck do I even start?

Well after that day when we made out in the tree house and I moved in, we still weren't together. We were, I don't even know. Friends with benefits. Actually, that is exactly what we were. Friends with benefits.

We acted like we were together, but only around the house. Never in public. People at school would look at us and say, "You guys should go out." We would laugh, he putting his arm around my shoulders and I resting my head on his chest. Then we would shake our heads and say "No, of course not! We're just friends, and only that. Just really good friends."

But it was so much more than that.

We kissed all the time, I made him breakfast every morning, and then the he and Eyeball dinner when their dad was out drinking. We talked about everything. He told me what was on his mind and I told him what was on mine. We had no secrets and nothing to hide from one another.

I didn't even call Eyeball Eyeball. I always called him Richard. Don't ask me why, but I like to call people by their full names. So anyway, Richard was the only one who knew about Chris and I. no one else. And that was only because he was coming to my room to ask something and we just so happened to be on my bed "chewing each other's faces."

Chris and I really liked each other. Ever since that very first kiss, maybe even before that, I liked him. And he said it was love at first sight for him, which is bullshit. I don't believe in all that fuckery. Love at first sight can kiss my ass.

But that's what he said it was. I saw him and thought he was just about the most beautiful person I had ever seen. I just thought he was gorgeous. But it wasn't love.

We just didn't feel inclined to get together. We felt that it was fine how we were. I chalked it up to it just being more exciting for the both of us. We were about as close as a guy and a girl could get, but it never left the thin walls of their – our – little cottage.

It was halfway through my second to last year at high school when it all started to change again.

I had this new friend Kel. She had thick black hair and a face full of distaste. But she could be a great laugh, and I liked having her around. She told me once that she liked Chris, but I didn't hear much of it.

She'd been admiring him from afar for much too long, in my opinion, and so I took it upon myself to introduce them. I didn't tell her though. It was too be a surprise.

We were standing on the edge of the court, she and I, in between where the fittest lads would be joking around and where the dullest would be smoking in the corner. I looked out onto the large field where Chris would play "football" with Gordie and some other mates. I took the opportunity.

"Hey Kel, do lets go over and watch Chris," I said, putting a hand on her arm.

Her eyes grew larger, then returned to a normal size. "Why? It's just football, Kee. Nothing for us to worry about."

"Oh, come off it," I said, hands now firmly on hips. "He's me friend and you like him so lets go and watch."

She laughed, but I wasn't sure why. "No."

"Well," I said, turning on my heel. "Guess I'll just go on me ownself then."

I began walking briskly across the court and onto the moist ground on the field. I heard footsteps behind me and Kel appeared at my side. "You can't just walk off without me!"

"Well, honey, I knew you'd come after me," I said, laughing up at her. "So it don't count."

She sighed with frustration, but then was distracted by Chris trotting over to us. Immediately, a bright and breezy smile spread across her face.

"Hey, Khione!" he said, giving me a bear hug as he always did.

"Hey babe," I greeted him, my hands on his back, head in his chest.

We held it for a moment more, then broke apart.

"Right, so Chris," I said, turning to Kel. "This is Kel, Kel, this is Chris!"

"Hi," he said, sticking his hand out for her. She took it and shook it timidly.

We made light conversation. I was surprised with Kel. I expected her to jump right in with the flirting, but she went completely and utterly silent. She was painfully shy.

Chris and I gave up and started talking in code. Well, it was barely code. We basically just used metaphors that seemed like we were just having a legit conversation.

We discussed the fact that Kel was dead keen on him, and that this was ridiculously tedious. Then he suggested that I say I needed to go to the bathroom, which was an amazing idea, as she would then feel obliged to come with me, us being girls.

We finished laughing at our conversation Kel though we were having, and then I let my face drop.

"Ew, I gotta pee real bad," I turned to Kel. "Bathroom?"

She laughed. "I love how you say that! _Bah-th-ruum. _I love it!"

I gave her a look. "Are you coming or what?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Thank you," I turned to Chris and we hugged. "I'll talk to yeh later, kay love?"

"Okay," he said, letting go then giving us a last wave as we went our separate ways.

As soon as we got in the bathroom, Kel turned the tap off as I used the loo.

"So," she started from outside, then didn't know how to finish.

"You need my thoughts?" I filled in for her. I hitched my skirt up onto my hips.

"Yeah," she said as I came out and pumped some soap on my hands. "I mean, you're his best friend. You know him, and how he is."

I dried my hands on the towel then leant up against the bench, my legs crossed over. "Yeh, he reckons yer alright."

I pulled a packet of Winstons out of my pocket. Kel and I had only really been friends for a couple of weeks, and so at the sight of this her jaw swung open. I lit it up and slipped it in my mouth.

"So, what does 'alright,' mean?" she said, still shocked by the cigarette.

I shrugged, putting the ciggie between my first two fingers and blowing out. "It means he's only just met yeh, and it's too soon to make a judgement. Give it time, he'll come around."

I mentally crossed my fingers that she wouldn't come out with the question she always did, but to no avail.

"Tell me about Chris?"

I sighed, taking another drag. "Why do yeh always ask that?"

She shrugged, taken aback. "I just want to know."

"Okay," I said, putting the cigarette out on the basin then flicking it into the bin. "Take me to all yer prissy little friends who all adore him and I'll do a little q&a, how's that?"

She hesitated, obviously not expecting it. "Uh, great, I guess."

"Cool," I hopped off the bench and gestured for her to go ahead. She went out of the bathroom and I followed her to where a group of girls our age were all sitting in a circle.

"Guys," she said, and they all looked over to us. "This is Khione, Chris' friend."

There was a silence that I felt needed filling. "Heya," I lifted my hand and did a little fingers-only wave. "How are yeh?"

They all murmured that they were good, thanks, then they opened the circle to make room for Kel and I.

There was another silence, then Kel sat up a bit. "Well, uhm, it seems a bit weird now, but Khione's offered to do a little…" she trailed off, realising how stupid it would seem coming from her.

"Well basically," I stepped in. "Kel's always hassling me to tell her all about Christopher. So to finally shut her up, I've agreed to come and tell you all about him. Coz apparently you all find 'im fascinating."

They all shifted awkwardly. A pretty girl with as blond hair piped up. "You the girl that lives with him?"

"Yeh. Have been fer four years now."

She nodded. Then another silence.

A girl with chocolate brown hair started tentatively. "What's his favourite colour?"

"I dunno, red? What kind of a question is that? No offence, but I thought you'd want the more… juicy details, I guess."

Then there was yet another silence. But I knew there was no hurry. Being put on the spot like that was pretty tough.

"Have you ever liked him?" the blond girl said, and I knew after that the questions would come more easily.

Even though I did really really like him, I laughed. "No, of course not! He's like me best friend. I couldn't ever like him."

"Do you reckon you would if he wasn't?"

"Yeah, definitely. He's well fit. But I wouldn't."

She nodded.

"What's he like? Is he as bad as everyone says?"

I shook my head. "God no! He's such a sweetie. He honestly wouldn't hurt a fly."

"Is he messy to live with?"

"Nah, his room is my room, my room is his room. Richard's room is my room – the only room that isn't shared is their dad's, but I don't mind that at all."

"Who's Richard?" Kel asked.

"Oh, Eyeball, but I call him Richard."

"Why?"

"Because it's his real name, and I have this thing where I have to call people by their full name. So it's Christopher, Gordon, Charles, Theodore, y'know."

"You're in with the Cobras?!"

I laughed, realising the conversation had turned into something about me. "Yeah. They're all really cool once you get to know them."

"Even Ace?"

"Yeah! He's actually really cool and funny. Sure, he bosses everyone around and acts generally like a dick. But if you get to be kinda close to him, he's a gc."

"Gc?"

"Good cunt."

"Oh."

And the questions kept coming like that. For the rest of lunch, which was about half an hour. By the end of it, I was actually quite glad, to be honest. I didn't like talking about myself and talking about Chris and the others was awkward.


End file.
